Invesco Real Estate, an arm of Atlanta-based investment manager Invesco, aims to take over Playa Vista, or so it seems.
The firm bought the planned community’s 14-are central mixed-use retail hub for $475 million, according to the Los Angeles Times, adding to the stake it has in two other major projects in the area: the Reserve and Hercules creative campuses.
Dallas-based developer Lincoln Property Co. and its two partners made big bank on the sale. They developed the property for only $300 million.
But it’s not hard to see why the project brought them $175 million in profit.
Runway brought in a Cinemark movie theater and a Whole Foods, adding a crucial retail convenience element that the walkable community was starved for until it opened in phases over the last year. Plus, when other office projects in the area attracted the likes of Facebook and Google, property values skyrocketed.
Lincoln and its partners, Phoenix Property Co. and Alcion Ventures, had always planned to develop and then sell the project.
Broker Carl Muhlstein of JLL, who was not involved in the Runway deal, told the Times he wasn’t aware of a more expensive transaction in Playa Vista. That includes Invesco’s purchase of a majority stake in the Reserve for a reported $300 million. [LAT] -Hannah Miet